Speculation: 2021-22 Sharks Roster Discussion part IX

[TheWayToRefJose]

Next year is not the year for goalies. There's no high end guy like the last few years (Wallstedt, Cossa, Askarov, Knight) and with Gaudreau looking solid, I'd rather any pick in the first half of the draft be a skater.

With the lack of D in our system, and the 2023 draft almost entirely being forwards in the top-10, the ideal targets should be Nemec and Jiricek. In all honestly though, I'm hoping we trade Hertl and get a second 1st rounder, so we can use our own pick to grab another forward early, and land a defenseman later in the first round (Mateychuk, Luneau, Nelson, etc.)

Other forwards that @TheWayToRefJose didn't mention:

Geekie: 6'4 center with offensive upside to become a real force.

Cooley: Highest ranked american this year. Is one of the safer picks to become a center in pros, and is said to be very solid defensively.

Kemmell: Goal scoring RW (a need we have) that is having a terrific year in liiga.

Slafkovsky: Like Geekie, another huge forward that to me is some mixture of Meier/Rantanen in playing style. Probably more of a long term project compared to some of the others.

I really, really want to stay away from Slafkovsky. He screams Zacha or Crouse to me. Decent players, but not who you want to get in the top 15.

I have the same concerns with Geekie, albeit not as much.

The kids who already have their size and frame at that age never seem to reach their potential. It’s too easy to physically bully other players for them in juniors.

 

[Stewie Griffin]

That quote is Bob admitting the team isn't good. Why does everyone in the world except DW accept that? Trade Hertl and Barabanov now. Attempt to trade Burns at the draft. And trade Labanc and Reimer next trade deadline.

That should add multiple picks and prospects to get things moving, and set us up for some top prospects to draft and build around.

 

[LadyStanley]

10 NHL players who should be dealt at the trade deadline

There could be some big names on the move at this year's NHL trade deadline.

Yahoo Sports speculation. No Sharks in his 10 players. (Perhaps he thinks Hertl will re-sign with Sharks?)

 

[Pinkfloyd]

That quote is Bob admitting the team isn't good. Why does everyone in the world except DW accept that? Trade Hertl and Barabanov now. Attempt to trade Burns at the draft. And trade Labanc and Reimer next trade deadline.

That should add multiple picks and prospects to get things moving, and set us up for some top prospects to draft and build around.

I honestly don't think that DW hasn't accepted that. I think DW has but has to do certain things to at least give off some impression that they're still trying to compete. I also think he simply hasn't been able to do what he really wants to move the team forward. It's a mess of his own making but I never believed that DW genuinely thought the difference between last year's team and competing was changing up the goalies and a 3C like Bonino. He took a shot with Hill because of his age. He brought in Reimer to try and be a positive veteran influence on Hill to help him along but Hill is tanking. He brought in Bonino because they had nobody to play the position from within so it insulates guys like Weatherby and Pederson to more accurately reflect where they ought to be in a lineup.

If Hasso isn't going to do anything and DW is still remaining in charge, his only real option is to be patient. Be patient with trades as the only ones that will be helpful are those that return draft picks and prospects. Be patient with your prospects like Eklund because next season is also going to be a lost season. I think he needs to do some serious reflection on how the organization identifies and develops blue liners and goaltending because their successes are few and far between.

Yeah, it's probably time to let Hertl go. It's in the team's best interests to load up on draft picks and young players and not invest another long term contract into the mid-30's sort of deal. Barbs and Cogs should also net them a draft pick too. I'm alright with trying to move any of Burns, Couture, Kane, Karlsson, Labanc, Meier, and Vlasic but I'm not getting my hopes up there. I pretty much expect Kane and Vlasic to get bought out. Maybe not both this offseason but I think one is inevitable if not both.

The problem with the others there is that you'd want to limit the retention because you may want to retain on Meier, Bonino, Reimer, and/or Hill to get max value out of them. When it's extremely likely that the only way you move Kane is to retain for three seasons and get pretty much nothing out of it, you're losing out on a marginally better return when you're retaining 50% on Reimer or Hill or Meier. For guys like Kane and Vlasic, I'd rather get the marginally better return and buy them out over retaining heavily AND getting nothing for it if you're just not okay with burying them the remainder of their contracts. My preference is burying them until it expires but that was my preference with Jones and they went another direction clearly.

 

[one2gamble]

I would 100% buy Vlasic out before Kane. Hell, I would have called Kane up already.

 

[WTFetus]

I would 100% buy Vlasic out before Kane. Hell, I would have called Kane up already.

For Kane, I'd rather retain or bury rather than buy him out. The savings are pretty negligible until the 25/26 season given how the team is currently constructed.

For Vlasic, don't really have a preference of play/bury/retain. I wouldn't buy him out though. Similar to Kane, savings are negligible until 25/26. At least for him though, he doesn't appear to be a locker-room cancer, and worst case scenario, you just have a $7 million 6D for 4 more seasons.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

For Kane, I'd rather retain or bury rather than buy him out. The savings are pretty negligible until the 25/26 season given how the team is currently constructed.

For Vlasic, don't really have a preference of play/bury/retain. I wouldn't buy him out though. Similar to Kane, savings are negligible until 25/26. At least for him though, he doesn't appear to be a locker-room cancer, and worst case scenario, you just have a $7 million 6D for 4 more seasons.

I pretty much agree on Kane so long as the retaining isn't also making us take back a bad contract with similar term. When it comes to Vlasic, the issue is that he along with Simek get in the way of bringing up young players that would benefit and develop in a sheltered 3rd pairing role. I think the team needs to choose which one of those two they have to get rid of this offseason.

 

[Cas]

Vlasic is a #7 D at this point - he's not worth starting except on the strongest defensive groups. He has no offensive ability whatsoever, he's not physical, he's not much of a skater, and his defensive instincts are either shot or can't make up for his physical decline because he keeps making stupid decisions.

He does have an NMC through next season, so he can't be buried. If he's not bought out, might as well just run him on the bench for a year and reevaluate after the season, when he can be buried. Simek needs to go, though, if only to make room.

 

[Kcoyote3]

And Eklund doesn't even play again until the 13th. Jesus sending him back makes me so mad.

 

[YUPPY 2 7 10 11]

And Eklund doesn't even play again until the 13th. Jesus sending him back makes me so mad.

Amen Brother! That was the beginning of the Shark's demise of this season.

 

[Gecklund]

Amen Brother! That was the beginning of the Shark's demise of this season.

The Sharks were garbage from the start.

 

[timorous me]

I love Hertl and wouldn’t hate it if he re-signed but the idea of getting a second first in deep draft and a good prospect is extremely enticing.

The issue with the incoming pick is that, since we'd likely be dealing Hertl to a contender, it's going to be near the bottom of the first round. I don't want the return for Hertl to be the same as for Goodrow (admittedly we gave up a pick, too, of course, but still), so I'm most interested in what prospect(s) we might get in addition to or instead of a first round pick in such a deal.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

The issue with the incoming pick is that, since we'd likely be dealing Hertl to a contender, it's going to be near the bottom of the first round. I don't want the return for Hertl to be the same as for Goodrow (admittedly we gave up a pick, too, of course, but still), so I'm most interested in what prospect(s) we might get in addition to or instead of a first round pick in such a deal.

I'm expecting a Hertl trade to include a prospect with the 1st but not one with anything more than depth level potential. A 1st, even a late one, can be beneficial. There's some solid talent late in the 1st round of this year's draft. They very well could find a solid top four level d-man there or use it as currency to move their lotto pick up.

I'd be happy with a 2022 draft where the Sharks end up with Conor Geekie or Rutger McGroarty and Mats Lindgren or Elias Salomonsson or even Tristan Luneau.

 

[YUPPY 2 7 10 11]

The Sharks were garbage from the start.

WHAT????? Sharks won the first 4 games of this season. and they were winners 6 games out of the first 10 games when Eklund left.

 

[timorous me]

I'm expecting a Hertl trade to include a prospect with the 1st but not one with anything more than depth level potential. A 1st, even a late one, can be beneficial. There's some solid talent late in the 1st round of this year's draft. They very well could find a solid top four level d-man there or use it as currency to move their lotto pick up.

I think of the Rangers as a pretty good team for Hertl, and I can't help but wonder if Filip Chytil could be part of the transaction. Lord knows we need centers (especially without Hertl), and he seems to frequently frustrate Gallant, so he could be available (plus he'd be money off their books). Still only 22, though, and I see enough of him that I think there's a solid middle-six center in there. I wonder if that's the kind of deal that could appeal to DW.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

WHAT????? Sharks won the first 4 games of this season. and they were winners 6 games out of the first 10 games when Eklund left.

They were also losers of four of six to finish that ten game stretch. Went 2-3 with him in the lineup after that four game start. They had a hot start and went where most thought they'd be with or without him. Pretty mediocre.

 

[Pavelski2112]

They were also losers of four of six to finish that ten game stretch. Went 2-3 with him in the lineup after that four game start. They had a hot start and went where most thought they'd be with or without him. Pretty mediocre.

Also the best team in that win streak was an underperforming Toronto with a basically-invisible Matthews and Marner

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I think of the Rangers as a pretty good team for Hertl, and I can't help but wonder if Filip Chytil could be part of the transaction. Lord knows we need centers (especially without Hertl), and he seems to frequently frustrate Gallant, so he could be available (plus he'd be money off their books). Still only 22, though, and I see enough of him that I think there's a solid middle-six center in there. I wonder if that's the kind of deal that could appeal to DW.

It may appeal to DW but I'd avoid it. He is only 22 but if there's only enough there from him to be an okay #2 then I think it's a bad move for the Sharks. Chytil probably only brings three or four years of service to the Sharks before he'd be a free agent. I'd want something with a little more potential and a lot more team control because a Sharks team without Hertl that was already thin on centers organizationally, none of which will truly replace him, is a long ways out from competing. They need more centers and they need more young defensemen. I'd legit take a 1st and a 2nd or 3rd over a 1st and whatever prospect most of the playoff teams would actually offer.

 

[tealzamboni]

Next year is not the year for goalies. There's no high end guy like the last few years (Wallstedt, Cossa, Askarov, Knight) and with Gaudreau looking solid, I'd rather any pick in the first half of the draft be a skater.

With the lack of D in our system, and the 2023 draft almost entirely being forwards in the top-10, the ideal targets should be Nemec and Jiricek. In all honestly though, I'm hoping we trade Hertl and get a second 1st rounder, so we can use our own pick to grab another forward early, and land a defenseman later in the first round (Mateychuk, Luneau, Nelson, etc.)

Other forwards that @TheWayToRefJose didn't mention:

Geekie: 6'4 center with offensive upside to become a real force.

Cooley: Highest ranked american this year. Is one of the safer picks to become a center in pros, and is said to be very solid defensively.

Kemmell: Goal scoring RW (a need we have) that is having a terrific year in liiga.

Slafkovsky: Like Geekie, another huge forward that to me is some mixture of Meier/Rantanen in playing style. Probably more of a long term project compared to some of the others.

It seems that there's some good C depth (Wright, Savoie, Cooley, McGroarty, Ostlund, Mesar, Kulich) as well as some potential play-driving-gimme-the-puck wing options (Nazar, Trikozov, Lambert).

Or maybe this is the year for Oasiz Wiesblatt.

 

[tealzamboni]

The issue with the incoming pick is that, since we'd likely be dealing Hertl to a contender, it's going to be near the bottom of the first round. I don't want the return for Hertl to be the same as for Goodrow (admittedly we gave up a pick, too, of course, but still), so I'm most interested in what prospect(s) we might get in addition to or instead of a first round pick in such a deal.

Look on the bright side: Would you rather think Hertl = late 1st = Goodrow?
Or Hertl = late 1st = basically early 2nd = Hill + Korenar?

 

[hohosaregood]

I feel like most of Eklund's value would have been on the PP but I don't think he would have been able to physically keep up with NHL play and probably would have faded quite a bit by this point at least at EV.

 

[Pinkfloyd]

I feel like most of Eklund's value would have been on the PP but I don't think he would have been able to physically keep up with NHL play and probably would have faded quite a bit by this point at least at EV.

He already was by the time his nine games were up. He only had 1 point in his last six games.

 

[PacificOceanPotion]

Why hasn't anyone been traded or fired? The Tank...thats why

 

[seroes]

He already was by the time his nine games were up. He only had 1 point in his last six games.

Eklund made a few pretty passes and avoided some hits but not much else. He wasn't quite ready for the NHL and Another year of seasoning will be good for him. He should be ready to go next season. But he was never going to turn us into a playoff team this year or even next year. There just isn't enough talent on this team.

 

[TheWayToRefJose]

I'm expecting a Hertl trade to include a prospect with the 1st but not one with anything more than depth level potential. A 1st, even a late one, can be beneficial. There's some solid talent late in the 1st round of this year's draft. They very well could find a solid top four level d-man there or use it as currency to move their lotto pick up.

I'd be happy with a 2022 draft where the Sharks end up with Conor Geekie or Rutger McGroarty and Mats Lindgren or Elias Salomonsson or even Tristan Luneau.

Nemec or Jiricek and Gauthier would be a great 1st round.

Lambert or Yurov and Salomonsson would be great too. Really like Salo at the end of the first if we take a F with our higher pick.